(written by Rumos, LLPA member in Portugal)

With organizations and recruitment becoming more digital, competitive, and global, IT professionals around the world continue to invest in technical certifications.

As the economy is getting more and more digital and tech recruitment more competitive and global, IT professionals around the world continue to invest in training and technical certifications to improve their skills, professional performance, and employability.
Attentive to the qualification needs of Portuguese professionals and of Portuguese companies trying to maintain their appeal, in 2022 Rumos conducted a study aiming to verify the importance placed on technical certifications by organizations and Portuguese professionals, as well as to identify the areas and the new emerging IT profiles in which certifications play a role, and how the leading technology manufacturers are adapting their training and certification paths.
The study results allowed for a better understanding of the areas in which technical certifications are consensually recognized due to the benefits that these bring to organizations and to certified professionals:

• Productivity: Getting certified is not only beneficial to the collaborators, but also for the organization as a whole. This is a reality that has been confirmed by several international studies, and the study conducted by Rumos is no exception to the rule. More than half of IT managers and directors surveyed agree that certified professionals are more innovative, efficient, and productive, do better quality work, and perform new tasks more easily.
• Recruitment: The acceleration of digital transformation has turned the process of recruiting new collaborators more complex, leading IT recruiters to start looking for other attributes in the candidates’ profiles. According to the answers provided in the Rumos study, Portuguese recruiters consider technical certification the second most important aspect when assessing potential candidates, the first one being professional experience. Furthermore, certifications allow organizations to save time and resources during the process of assessing applications and are also proof of the candidate’s level of knowledge.
• Professional Evolution: This study also shows that Portuguese professionals seek solutions such as technical training, as they intend to advance professionally. To be more precise, 89% of surveyed people named professional growth as one of the main reasons to get certified.
• The Value of Certification: In addition, the study demonstrates that the majority of Portuguese professionals who are IT-certified maintain their confidence in the value of certification as a means of developing their careers. As a matter of fact, around 80% of surveyed people intend to renew their certifications or obtain new ones; whereas 92% recommend getting a technical certification to those who want to initiate or advance in an IT career.

If you happen to be an IT professional or an IT recruiter, you can find out more about the study results in the e-book (in Portuguese only): “IT Certification: Yes or No – The Portuguese Reality”.